Meet the Author: Adrian Matejka

Wednesday, November 29, 2017, 5:00pm

College Arts & Humanities Institute (1211 E. Atwater Avenue)

Adrian Matejka, Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at IUB, will join us at CAHI on Wednesday, November 29 to read from his fourth collection of poetry, Map to the Stars (Penguin Random House, 2017). His previous collection, The Big Smoke (Penguin, 2013) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in Poetry. A discussion and reception will follow the reading.

“In the time of space shuttles and the Strategic Defense Initiative, outer space is the only place equality seems possible, even as the stars serve to both guide and obscure the earthly complexities of masculinity and migration. In Matejka’s poems, hope is the link between the convoluted realities of being poor and the inspiring possibilities of transcendence and escape—whether it comes from Star Trek, the dream of being one of the first black astronauts, or Sun Ra’s cosmic jazz.” (From the publisher, Penguin Random House, on Map to the Stars.)

Known from his 2003 debut (The Devil’s Garden, Alice James Books) for “cool inventiveness and bravura phrasing,” Matejka went on to be described as a “street-talking surrealist, someone down-home and intergalactic,” as well as “a post-soul tour de force” after his second book, Mixology (Penguin, 2009), was chosen for the 2008 National Poetry Series by Kevin Young. His third collection, The Big Smoke, examines the myth and the history of the American prizefighter Jack Johnson.

If you have a disability and need assistance, arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call (812) 856-1169 or contact us via email at cahi@indiana.edu.